Thanks to new EU regulations coming into force next year, Apple has no choice but to finally adopt the USB-C port for its iPhones. Yet, as happens many times with Apple, apparently there is a twist.
According to a new rumor from China, the company is planning to use a custom integrated circuit (IC) interface for the port, which would allow it to authenticate the parties involved in the connection.
If this sounds familiar to you, that’s because that’s exactly what Apple did with its Lightning port. That authentication process built into the Lightning interface is what makes those “This accessory is not supported” warnings pop up if you use something that wasn’t made by Apple and isn’t part of its “Made for iPhone” licensing program, which it’s a lucrative side business.
Obviously, since this is a rumor, it must be taken with a grain of salt. It’s also worth noting that none of Apple’s mobile devices that already use USB-C have anything like this built in. Then again, this definitely sounds like something Apple would do, so there’s that.
It’s unclear whether adding the custom IC chip would really have any major implications regarding the functionality of non-Apple, non-MFi accessories, but it’s possible that some features like fast charging and high-speed data transfer could be limited on non-Apple accessories. “authentic” accessories. It’s unlikely that they just won’t work, as the EU would most likely step in in such a scenario, as it would break the whole reason why USB-C was mandated as a universal interface.
In previous leaks regarding iPhone’s USB-C limitations, it has been said that only the Pro iPhones will have fast charging and data speeds, while the vanilla models will use USB 2.0 speeds, which are identical to Lightning.
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